Equity and Accountability

TDS has an ongoing commitment to reviewing and developing firm policies and initiatives designed to create a culture that reflects our core values, including an express commitment to diversity.

We strive to foster a firm culture that nurtures diversity, inclusion, equity, and accountability amongst our colleagues, and in our community.

We believe that through the identification and development of a diverse and inclusive workforce, our varied experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and identities better position our lawyers and staff to provide exceptional legal services to our clients. It will also better equip our team to identify problems and generate creative solutions that are as unique as our clients.

We are building these policies and initiatives around four pillars – community, our people, leadership and our culture.

Community

We are strengthening our commitment to our community and continue to open ourselves to having our community teach us so we are better positioned to provide the legal services they need and deserve. We do this through:

• supporting the JD Bridges Foundation, a not-for-profit organization existing to build bridges towards the pursuit of legal education for Black students in Canada.
• donating to the Black Law Students Association of Canada.
• sponsoring Women in Business events such as the 2022 Winnipeg Women’s Conference and the 2021 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.
• donating to the Rainbow Resource Centre’s Camp Aurora, Manitoba’s only camp for 2SLGBTQ+ youth.
• supporting outreach programs in Robson Hall and in the broader legal education community.
• engaging all members of our firm to support the firm initiatives as well as their own.

Our People

TDS is driving diversity, inclusion and talent retention to ensure that the TDS community reflects the communities we serve through initiatives including:

• celebrating International Women's Day - a global day promoting the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.
• reviewing existing firm policies and initiatives that foster diversity, inclusion and equality and, where appropriate, identifying and developing new policies and initiatives.
• supporting recruitment practices and procedures that are focused on hiring diverse talent.
• arranging for respectful workplace and harassment training for all lawyers and staff.
• developing analytics to assess the current composition of TDS (lawyers and staff).
• conducting a survey to identify the strengths, weaknesses and areas of development, and identifying a plan to respond to the issues raised.
• overseeing the Robson Hall Mentorship Program.
• developing a women’s initiative to ensure that systemic barriers to the retention and advancement of women lawyers are proactively addressed.

Leadership

TDS is working on the development and promotion of leadership on issues of diversity, inclusion, equity and systemic inequality within our firm and in our communities, including:

• creating an education program that will offer learning opportunities to all members of TDS, such as providing educational opportunities for our lawyers and staff to remember and understand the legacy of residential schools, and honour survivors and their families.
• developing and maintaining an effective and accountable system for reporting concerns and workplace offences.
• ensuring that every person who joins the TDS team is provided with an opportunity to become a leader in the firm, the legal community and Manitoba.

Our Culture

We encourage, support and promote a culture of diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity by identifying and breaking down any systemic barriers to ensure all team members are valued for their differences and have the support to flourish professionally and personally. This includes:

• identifying and celebrating the diverse backgrounds and identities of firm members and the community we serve.
• developing a plan for corporate education and professional development.

To learn more about TDS and its initiatives, please contact Bailey Harris, Chair of the TDS Diversity and Equity Council.